Alan Ayckbourn is “not only the most prolific playwright of his generation but also the most widely produced. He is probably, in fact, the most successful-in-own-lifetime playwright there has ever been, including Shakespeare.”
Tag: 11.25.07
The Enduring Power Of Agon
When it premiered in 1957, Stravinsky’s ballet “Agon” represented the height of modernist music and dance – complex, hard to understand, and somewhat cold and aloof despite its layers of meaning. Half a century on, it’s still just as daunting, and just as fascinating.
Balancing Quality With Convenience
The dirty little secret of the iPod is that its audio quality is actually quite poor, at least when judged against the quality of high-end stereo systems. “For consumers, easy access has trumped high fidelity.” It’s bad news for audiophiles, but musicians don’t seem to mind.
The Accidental Hit
Xanadu wasn’t expected to be the hit of the fall Broadway season, and it didn’t garner great reviews in its out-of-town tryouts. But as one of the few productions still running during the stagehands’ strike, the show has seen its fortunes rise considerably.
Important Moment For Denver Opera Company
Opera Colorado recently lost both its artistic director and its president, leaving a leadership void that needs to be filled quickly. “This leadership transition can either be a time of retrenchment or continuing artistic growth. It all depends on the vision and courage of the company’s board and the effectiveness of the leadership team it assembles.”
Deep Inside The Surreal Mind Of Picasso
“With the publication of A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932 — the third of a projected four-volume chronicle of the artist’s life, times and artistic progress — we have a fresh reminder of just how massive a project [Picasso biographer John Richardson] constructed for himself.”
Poet Paul Roche, 91
“Paul Roche, a noted English poet and translator who was among the last living associates of the Bloomsbury group, the skein of artists and writers twined around Virginia Woolf and her family, died on Oct. 30 at his home in Sóller, Majorca… The cause was cancer.”
Stagehands/Producers Talking Again
“Striking stagehands and theatre producers agreed to return to the bargaining table almost a week after negotiations collapsed and kept most of Broadway dark during the lucrative Thanksgiving week – the second full week of no performances.”
If Only They Could Agree On The Definition Of ‘Fair’
There’s plenty of bad blood between the striking Broadway stagehands and the producers who are insisting on changes to their contract. But if there’s one thing both sides agree on, it’s that the dispute comes down to fairness.
Campaigning For Utah’s MD Spot
As the Utah Symphony searches for a new music director to replace the outgoing Keith Lockhart, at least one conductor is making his availability known. Pavel Kogan, the orchestra’s one-time principal guest conductor, is saying all the right things, and clearly has designs on the top job.